NEWS AND NOTES

Kirk Smith can't really claim to be the world's best lefthandedgolfer--Phil Mickelson would surely object--but Smith was lowsouthpaw during the 62nd National Association of Left-handedGolfers championship last week at Las Vegas's Paiute Resort.Smith, a 47-year-old dentist with a scratch handicap fromEverett, Wash., beat the 1996 champion, Jim Wheatley of Geneva,Ill., with a birdie on the fourth hole of sudden death. Theplayers had tied at nine-over-par 297 after four rounds.

While Smith and Wheatley were tearing up Paiute (Wheatley shot atournament-low 69 in the second round), the event's 286 otherplayers, including five women, grouped into 17 flights, hadvarying degrees of success. George Price, a 68-year-oldmortician from San Francisco who claims to have learned a lotabout golf from Dwight Eisenhower when he served as a young manunder the general, played despite a broken finger on his lefthand. "It's tough to play with one hand," said Price, who openedwith a 113 and closed with a 92, despite a splint on his busteddigit. "I would never have tried to play if it hadn't been alefty tournament. I've made a lot of good friends at this event,and it's too much fun to let a broken finger stop me."

Travis Scott, the executive secretary of the Carolinas chapterof the association, was an accomplished righthanded player whotook lessons lefthanded just so he could travel with friends toMonterrey, Calif., for the 1963 championship. "Lefties hit fromthe right side of the ball," insists Scott, who finished thirdin the senior second flight.

Merle Hogan, the oldest player in the field at 89, braved the112[degree] heat and 40-mph wind gusts to shoot rounds of 104,105, 114 and 115. "I just plain ran out of gas," said Hogan, whocelebrated his birthday on the day of the final round.

The most ambitious of the association's 5,000 members, includingSmith, will travel to Launceston Country Club in the Australianstate of Tasmania for the biennial World Lefthanded GolfTournament in October 1998. Not only will they be hitting fromthe wrong side, but they'll be down under as well. "We're golf'strue minority," says Scott.

GOLF'S GREAT LITTLE MAN JUMPS BACK INTO ACTION

In 1954 Bob Toski won four Tour events and was the leading moneywinner with what was then a record $65,820, but he was obsessedwith another number. "I weighed 118 pounds," says the 5'8"Toski. "I was the lightest player in the history of the Tour.Remember Charles Atlas and the kid that used to get sand kickedin his face? The 118-pound weakling? Well, I didn't want peopleto think that was me, so I always said I weighed 127 pounds."After Toski's final win in '54, at the World Championship ofGolf at Tam O'Shanter in Niles, Ill., Lew Worsham and ClaytonHeafner greeted Toski at the shower and marched him to a scale,thus ending the ruse.

Although Toski never won another Tour event, he will always beremembered as golf's great little man. Last week at OlympiaFields outside Chicago, Toski added another line to his resume.At 70 years, nine months and eight days, he became the oldestplayer to compete in the U.S. Senior Open.

At 135 pounds Toski is still trim, and his technically superiorswing has weathered the years beautifully. He shot a pair of 76sat Olympia Fields, missing the cut by a stroke. Not bad for aguy who hadn't played in a Senior Open since 1987, hasn't playedthe Senior tour regularly for a decade and played only oneSenior event all of last year. "Aw, I didn't come here just toplay. I came to make the cut," Toski said after the second round.

Through the years Toski has gained widespread recognition as oneof golf's top teachers. Earlier this year his own stroke beganto meet his exacting standards, and on a lark he entered theSenior Open qualifier near his home in Boca Raton, Fla. To hissurprise, he shot 71 and was the medalist.

Though Toski didn't duplicate that success at Olympia Fields("It was a question of nerves," he says), he did make animpression with his ball striking. For the week he averaged254.8 yards per drive, including a 275-yard bomb on Friday. Howdoes he do it? "I have to leap off my feet," says Toski. "SamSnead said I ought to get a two-stroke penalty for high jumpingevery time I hit it."

BUSINESS AS USUAL AT HONG KONG GOLF CLUB

While Hong Kong prepared to make the transition from British toChinese rule on Tuesday, Iain Roberts got ready for anotherroutine day at fabled Hong Kong Golf Club, where he is the headprofessional. Roberts says the club has needed to make only twomodest alterations to prepare for the takeover. "A year ago wedeleted Royal from our name and got a new logo without the royalseal," he says. "Otherwise, there have been no changes--nothing.The membership has stayed consistent, and everybody is stillplaying golf."

Founded in 1889 by a small band of British colonists, the clubfeatured Hong Kong's first golf course. (Currently there arethree other clubs.) Today there are 63 holes on two sites and6,000 members--mostly wealthy businessmen. The club has beengradually integrating since 1900, and more than 90% of themembers are Chinese.

Roberts, a native of London, has worked at the club since 1994and has no plans to leave. "The game has exploded over here," hesays. "There has never been a better time to be a golfer in HongKong."

WALLY JOYNER'S THE NEW ACE OF THE PADRES

"Do me a favor, just keep this quiet," San Diego Padres managerBruce Bochy told his first baseman, Wally Joyner, last Fridayafter granting Joyner permission to play the North Course at LosAngeles Country Club. The Padres were opening a three-gameseries against the Dodgers that night, and Bochy didn't want hisother players to know that he was waiving a team ruleprohibiting golf on game days.

Joyner, however, couldn't stay mum about his round. At the228-yard par-3 11th hole, Joyner, a seven handicapper, sank histhree-iron tee shot for the first hole in one of his life. Hedidn't see his ball go in and found out that he'd made the aceonly after his playing partner, Padres catcher John Flaherty,looked in the hole. Flaherty hadn't asked Bochy for a specialdispensation, but he wasn't about to let the fear of a fine keephim from spreading the news about Joyner's feat.

After the Padres' 7-5 win that night--Joyner had a double and anRBI, Flaherty went 2 for 5--word of Joyner's ace was the talk ofthe locker room. "My only punishment was a warning," says Bochy."I told Wally, 'If we do this again, please, no more holes inone.'"

THE SHAG BAG

It took a course-record 64 from Michelle McGann in the finalround to cool off Annika Sorenstam at the ShopRite Classic inSomers Point, N.J. McGann, who jumped to fourth on the LPGAmoney list with her second victory this year, finished threeshots ahead of Sorenstam, a four-time winner in '97, with atournament-record score of 201, 12 under par, at the Greate BayResort & Country Club....Tiger Woods received treatments fromthe Orlando Magic training staff last week for a slight pull ina shoulder muscle. "It's nothing too bad," says Woods, who wasscheduled to compete in this week's Western Open outsideChicago....The 2005 Ryder Cup is expected to be awarded toIreland. The match, the first ever on Irish soil, will probablybe held at K Club, a new resort an hour outside of Dublin whose7,159-yard course was designed by Arnold Palmer....Of the eightplayers selected for the U.S. team, which hopes to regain theWalker Cup next month, only two--Jerry Courville Jr. and JohnHarris--have played in the event....Bruce Zabriski, 39, anassistant pro at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., won thePGA Club Pro championship. The top 25 finishers in thetournament, which was held at Pinehurst No. 8, earned spots inthe Aug. 14-17 PGA Championship at Winged Foot. Last year onlythree of the 25 club pros made the cut at the PGA....As ofMonday, 49 of the top 50 players on the World Ranking hadentered the July 17-20 British Open at Troon. Japan's JumboOzaki, ranked eighth, has yet to commit.

COLOR PHOTO: GREG CAVA Portsiders of all ages, sexes, sizes and swings played in the national championship. [Several left-handed golfers at driving range]COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK [Annika Sorenstam playing golf]

PLAYING FOR HISTORY

Annika Sorenstam (left) will leap into very rare air if she winsnext week's U.S. Open, at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outsidePortland. In addition to being the first woman with threestraight Open titles, Sorenstam would also become only the 13thplayer to have won a USGA championship in three or moreconsecutive years. Below are the 12 golfers who've accomplishedthe feat.

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything